To Copy or Not to Copy...?

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

Whether you make cards or scrapbook, tags or art journal pages,  there are a TON of sources for inspiration available.  Personally I love to look at blogs and magazines and books on art journals.  Sometimes I come across a pages and (mentally) scream "I WANT TO MAKE THAT!!".  So,  I will turn the corner down of the magazine page or bookmark the web page, intending to return to it later when I have time ( and the inclination to create).  Sometimes  I return and sometimes I don't.  When  I do, I inevitably look at the inspiration page/article/book and feel guilty about the notion of copying.  I feel like I should be creating my own original art, not just copying someone else's. 

Is it wrong to copy?

I think copying is okay when you need to copy to learn how to do something.  You copy to learn the technique or the skill and once you have mastered the skill,  you introduce your creativity into the process.  And inevitably I find that when I am attempting to "recreate" something I have seen,  I don't have the same supplies as the original artist so  I get a different result anyway. In those instances I would say that my work is original, but "influenced by".  ( Side note-  A similar argument did not turn out so well for Robin Thicke, recently)

When copying goes wrong...

Recently, I set out to "take inspiration" from an art journal page published in  "Paint Mojo" by Tracy Verdugo.

Tracy's work is bright and colorful and vibrant. When I was flipping through it for inspiration,  I my conscious thought was not to create the same pages but  I wanted to create the same feel in my journal page.  I  thought the best way to do it was to follow the same steps Tracy describes in the book but to make it my own.  Here is the page I used as inspiration. She calls it a "sacred transformation painting":

I just love the color in this photo.  I especially love that she uses both warm and cool colors.

Unfortunately,  My version did not turn out as well:

I would call this one of my most unsuccessful pages in a loooooong time.    As  I was creating it I realized that I was not "inspired" .  And  I can't draw.  So,  as much as I was loving putting the color on the page.  I do not love the result.   Ultimately, I am going to gesso over this page.  Or cut it out.  Or something.  But first I thought I  would post it here and maybe serve as a cautionary tale.  I think the lesson is to make sure you are properly inspired when creating your art.   I was not and I think the page fails as a result.

Review:Craft Smart Acrylic Paint

Continuing my reviews of matte  finish acrylic paint..

Second Place: Craft Smart Acrylic Paint by Michaels

The description on Michaels.com:

A paint that delivers great quality at an affordable price! It is ideal for simple base coats and a multitude of craft projects. Designed to brush out smoothly and evenly, it covers in one or two coats and dries quickly to a soft matte finish. This versatile acrylic paint is perfect for general arts and crafts, stenciling, ceramics, school projects, home decorating and decorative painting. It adheres to most surfaces: canvas, fabric, paper, cardstock, poster board, wood, metal, ceramic bisque, terra cotta, resin, plaster, polymer clay, Styrofoam and more. Craft Smart Acrylic Paint is nontoxic, permanent, water based, intermixable and cleans up easily with soap and water. Shake well and apply with a synthetic or sponge brush.

For an inexpensive craft paint, this paint performed really, really well.  The color is smooth, coverage was full, with little to no brush lines.  This paint took second pace because although I got decent coverage with one coat, if I were working on an important project or something where coverage really mattered, I think I would need to apply a second coat to ensure my paper did not peep through the paint.  

Here is my test swatch:

At $.59 for a 2 fl oz bottle, this paint offers OUTSTANDING comparative value.  This paint has a ton of colors so for that price, you could try dozens of colors without breaking the bank.

Using Old Craft Supplies

I have been doing a lot of art journaling but feeling kind of uninsipred lately so I decided to focus a little on my first true love- rubber stamping and card making.  This really simple Valentine's Day card card is my first foray into card making in a couple of years.  I really like how it turned out. 

I created the background  by using watercoloring a piece of watercolor paper cut down to size.  Once the watercolor paper was THOROUGLY dry, I stamped the heart in clear embossing ink and embossed it with white embossing powder   The sentiment is a rub on. 

I really like the simplicity of the card.  I decided the card did not need ribbon, bling or any other embellishments.  The simplicity speaks for itself.  I could see adding three simple dots either in brown or crystal in one of the corners but nothing more than that.  I enjoyed making this card.


What is interesting to me about this card is that with the exception of the jar of embossing powder (Hero Arts 2015),  all of the supplies I used are super old!  The stamp is a PSX from 1995.  The rub ons are from the Joann's crafts essentials line, circa 2004-2006.  I don't even know if Joann's sells this line any more!  The watercolors are two sets I have has since at least 2009.   The watercolor background is mounted to a piece of cardstock from a pack purchased in 2011.




I have tried different watercolor media over the years and I repeatedly come back to these sets , which I love.  The rub ons work really well and even after all of these years, I was able to rub them on smoothly and cleanly.   My older supplies really came through for me!

It has been a while but well... summer.   It was difficult to be indoors blogging while the weather was so nice.

Anyway,  back to chalk paints. Here are the rest I tested in no particular order:

1. Soft Matte Fabric Paint by Tulip 

I really wanted to like this paint.  It comes in a variety of colors and is affordable if you don't need a lot of paint ( $1.79 for a 1 fl oz bottle).  It is a fabric paint and whether that makes a difference for paper uses,  I don't know.   I tested the color periwinkle.  Unfortunately,  when I created a swatch,  the coverage was a little thin and when the swatch dried it was matte but had a slight sheen.   There is nothing wrong with this but since I was looking for a true matte finish,  I was  a little disappointed.  It goes on smoothly and is pretty when applied,  but not the best choice for me as a chalk paint for paper.

The Tulip swatch is on the left.  The photo is not great but you can see the black paper showing through the paint and the slight sheen in parts of it.

 

 

2. Folk Art Home Depot Chalk

This is a matte acrylic paint that appears to be marketed for furniture painting and other crafty projects.  The coverage is a little thin.  In the photo it is the paint swatch on the lower right and you can see the black paper showing through slightly.  However,  it dried to a nice soft truly matte finish.  The color I tested was "lilac" and it is a beautiful soft dusky purple with a tint of rose.   The paints are sold for $7.99 for an 8 oz jar and are at Joanns and AC Moore and probably other craft retailers as well.

The Folk Art Chalk Home Decor paint is on the lower right.

3. Buttercream Luxe Craft Chalk Paint- Matte Finish

This is a new craft paint line and is being sold at Joann's.  It is marketed for home decor products and the product line also included stencils, wood-carved stamps, home decor items, embellishments, fabric and miscellaneous doo-dads.

The color i test is "Lavender Fields", which is  a nice soft lavender purple color.   I don't really understand the "why" behind the  buttercream line, but I like this paint.  It goes on smoothly, without streaking and gets good coverage.  With one coat, there is very little peek-through from the black paper.  The paint dries to a nice, smooth matte finish, with no sheen.   The color dries to the barest purple, with rose undertones.  It is likely that with more than one coat ( and over a white surface), the purple color will deepen in intensity.

Here is the official color swatch from Joann.com:

Here is my swatch.  The buttercream paint is the swatch in the middle on the right.:

The paint is retailing for $8.99 for a 8 oz jar at Joann. I think the price is a little steep but it is good paint with good one coat coverage, which means you will need to use less of it, so it could be worth it. 

I have some other paints to report on so will post again on this topic and include my final findings.

Thanks for reading!